Monthly Archives: July 2016

Encompassing the entire eastern border of the county, Lake St. Clair is a popular recreational lake. It is accessible in select places throughout the county, rich in wildlife and a primary connection point in the Detroit / Windsor region along the Great Lakes system.

Clinton River

Connecting six communities within Macomb County, the Clinton River reaches to the north into Oakland County and at the south end of the river into Lake St. Clair. The river is recently transforming into a recreational and community asset, providing easy access to water recreation for residents and visitors. It is also serving as a connection between communities.

Agricultural Land

As the basis for settling the county in its early years, the agricultural base in the county is both an economic driver and a unique natural resource that exists in abundance and is growing as an asset value. As a natural resource, this predominately vegetation-focused industry in Macomb adds to the natural environment and provides

Community Resources

Recreation

A combination of local and regional parks provide access to outdoor and recreation assets to residents. These parks integrate the natural features of our local communities and deliver those amenities to residents and visitors.

Trails

Beginning with an initial investment in the Macomb Orchard Trail system in the early 2000s, Macomb is constructing hike / bike trails throughout the county to increase non-motorized access.

Additionally, a combination of public entities and non-profit organizations are cleaning up the Clinton River to provide for paddling trails, giving more access to water recreation to residents and visitors.

Accessible education

Education from early childhood to K-12 to advanced- and higher education are accessible to residents across the county. Providing a social connection within communities, the education system also provides a comprehensive access to economic opportunities and personal development for residents.

Community variety

Ranging from densely urbanized suburban to less populated rural communities, Macomb offers places to call home for a variety of lifestyles. Community features can include waterfrontage, river access, water proximity, trail access, traditional downtowns, large-suburban and country-side attributes. Each of these communities are well-connected to the region as whole, making all of the region’s assets accessible to all Macomb residents.

Economic resources

Strong base industries

The automotive industry; defense industry vehicle development and logistics; and the technological advancement associated with these industries centralize in the Detroit Region. Macomb County is a primary source of development for these industries because of the location of key defense and automotive facilities.

Manufacturing

The Detroit Region’s manufacturing expertise is over 150 years old. This long-standing development of industry skills, specialized talents and evolution of process gives this area a competitive edge that is globally recognized. Macomb County has been and continues to grow manufacturing business with an expertise in vehicle assembly, mobility and production technology.

Food

As mentioned in the natural resources section, the county’s agricultural base is an economic driver and a unique natural resource that exists in abundance and is growing as an asset value. The local expertise in production and supply chain management facilitates the development of new food-based industries from the county’s long-standing farming community.

Connected commercial and industrial corridors

The Detroit-Windsor region is a bi-national trading hotbed that has seamless access to the global market. Situated in the eastern portion of the Detroit Region, Macomb’s infrastructure system allows for easy connection to the region at-large and global markets. The region itself is approximately 4 million residents (6.5 M in the 10 county greater region) and is approximately 50% of the Michigan’s GSP (Detroit-Warren MSA / Michigan, 2014 unchained real dollars)

Low barriers to market entry

With access to a wide variety of well-trained talent, low tax rates and access to a global client base, Macomb has a market that is open to entrepreneurs, large corporations and everything in between. This prime market access allows for business growth and has the ability to propagate high-value business clusters.

New Baltimore Marina
This public marina redevelopment will help provide additional public access to Lake St. Clair and support development throughout the community. New Baltimore is home to an historic downtown and public beach. This project will be a major addition to the waterfront assets in the Detroit Region for boaters and non-boaters alike.

Roseville downtown redevelopment
The City of Roseville is at the intersection of 4 main corridors in Macomb County. These corridors are major regional corridors that connect the community and economic assets throughout the Detroit Region. The city has embarked on an aggressive redevelopment strategy that includes the successful redevelopment of the Macomb Mall and several established properties throughout the city. Roseville was the first city in Michigan to attain “Redevelopment Ready” status.

Macomb Children’s Museum
A project proposed by a several key community leaders in Macomb County, the Macomb Children’s Museum seeks to provide a “hands-on” experience for children throughout Macomb and the Detroit Region. The museum will provide the basis for STEAM education in order to encourage continued technical capability in our children and future talent base.

Water Towns
Organized by the Clinton River Watershed, the WaterTowns program provides a basis for place-making and environmental stewardship for communities located along the Clinton River.

Macomb Bike Trails
Spearheaded by the Macomb County Department of Planning and Economic Development, the bike trails program seeks to develop a 70-mile loop through the county and connection to the state-wide Iron Belle trail system. Building on the already popular Macomb Orchard Trail and Freedom Trail, the county will be completing new trail connections in the fall of 2016 and spring of 2017.

Advancing Macomb conducted numerous interviews in earlier part of 2016. From these interviews, the board of directors identified five ground-level projects as integral to the vision of creating an enriching environment to live, learn, recreate, innovate and conduct business. These are projects that we are adopting to serve as starting points for the larger strategic plan and asset inventory. The final five projects represent all three focus areas – community investment, economic development and natural resource protection.

Advancing Macomb Projects

Roseville 12 Mile and Gratiot improvements and tree planting

Macomb blue and green trail marketing

WaterTowns Mt. Clemens paddling launch

Manufacturing marketing and programs

Eastside Bike Drive

The East Side Bike Drive originated from Advancing Macomb as an introductory project for the organization to serve the community as a whole and help support some of the interviewed projects. A model project from Utica, New York was used as an example and road map to designing our project.

Roseville’s downtown redevelopment and the Macomb Greening initiative resulted in blending two separate projects. In the strategic planning process, AM identified 12 Mile road as a key corridor in Macomb. As a major cross section of 12 mile, the city of Roseville is a fundamental access point to the corridor. Both the city of Roseville and Macomb County Planning identified redevelopment, beautification and greening of several intersections in Roseville. By investing in the redevelopment and greening along this corridor, we will help support community and environmental sustainability.

A paddling and peddling marketing project that will support and promote the assets in the county, Advancing Macomb will produce a promotional piece for Macomb’s blue and green trails. In conjunction with Macomb County Planning and The Clinton River Water Shed, Advancing Macomb will develop an access map for trails throughout the county. This map will show local amenities and trail access points throughout the county.

The Clinton River is one of the most prevalent assets identified in the AM strategic plan. Board members expressed the river’s importance to the Macomb’s environmental integrity and the potential for economic development and community enhancement. Advancing Macomb would like to support a series of projects identified in the Water Towns program to enhance access to the river and amenities associated with those access points. For the first year, we recommend supporting the project in Mt. Clemens to build out paddling launches and amenities.

Advancing Macomb will design a messaging platform for manufacturing in Macomb County. The platform will include a message strategic plan, stakeholders and support for a series of programs and projects. Initial projects identified are: Macomb Business Awards, Manufacturers’ Engage and Manufacturing Day.

Wolcott Mill was officially born in 1847. A Ray Township miller named Arad Freeman constructed a grain and feed mill on the banks of the north branch of the Clinton River in northern Macomb County. In 1989, the mill re-opened as part of the 2,625-acre Wolcott Mill Metropark. The park consists of four independent sites that provide unforgettable experiences in a peaceful, rustic setting.

In 1847, America was sowing the seeds of social, political, and economic change while stretching the continent and pushing toward the great Pacific Ocean. The year brought the births of great minds such as Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell and saw the first postage stamp from the U.S. Post Office. It brought the abolitionist paper, called the North Star by Frederick Douglass, and the beginnings of the humanitarian efforts of Clara Brown, founder of the American Red Cross. Henry David Thoreau was busy writing Walden and a young Mark Twain was dreaming of one day becoming a steamboat pilot. An aspiring Abraham Lincoln took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as the wheels of change kept turning.

Here at home, the State of Michigan passed a law that would relocate our state capital from Detroit to Lansing. Even closer to home, in Macomb County, the mill on the banks of the Clinton River was purchased by Fred B. Wolcott in 1878. Wolcott was born in 1845. As a young man, he worked for a Pennsylvania sawmill until moving to Wisconsin in 1865. Fred’s search for his dream destination led him to travel, moving to Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and California. Eventually, he returned to Nebraska, where his father had settled, to make a life for himself.

For nine years Fred was busy with marriage, having kids, and improving his own Nebraska homestead. In 1878, he made the fateful trade for what would, eventually, be known as Wolcott Mill, right here in Macomb County. By rebuilding part of the mill and adding machinery and a new barn, Fred did very well. Known for its high-quality flour, the Wolcott Mill supplied a number of large Detroit bakeries that included Acme Pie and Oven King Cookies. Fred operated the mill until at least 1905, until its eventual closing in 1967.

Today, Wolcott Mill Metropark visitors can experience the 100 year old history of Wolcott Mill. Just a few miles down the road there is a late 20th century, working farm. If you bring your clubs, you can play the 18-hole golf course in the greenery and wide-open space. To top off your Norman Rockwell style moments, you can relax, in solitude, along the north branch of the Clinton River at Camp Rotary.

Guests can experience the feeling of a simpler time at the mill. The river runs through the property along a beautiful millpond. The property boasts the mill, antique farming equipment, a restored Model T dump truck and garage, and a quaint gazebo that is often used for weddings. It’s wonderful to see the original milling machinery that is still in place. There are two midget marvel roller mills that were used to grind grains, and other machinery used for milling.

Meet and greet the stars of a 250-acre working farm by saying hello and making new friends. Wolcott Mill Farm is the only known public farm, in the state of Michigan, that houses all six heritage breeds of dairy cow, Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Jersey, Milking Short Horn and Holstein, year-round.

There’s a wide variety of animals including miniature and draft horses, multiple species of sheep and goats as well as a wide variety of farm fowl. There are gardens and a greenhouse. When available, you can take a horse-drawn wagon ride through the crop fields or you can bring your horse to ride along 10 miles of trails through the woods, meadows and along the Clinton River. If you don’t have your own horse, the beautifully wooded trails are available for hiking. Bring your imagination. The atmosphere at Wolcott Mill Metropark will take care of the rest!

Susan Schmidt, Park Operations Manager of the Wolcott Mill Metropark, has been quite involved in the local and regional food system since moving to Michigan in 2001. During her several years at The Henry Ford, she created and marketed food and agriculture through daily offerings and special events that focused on Michigan’s products and producers.

Additionally, Susan is the founding board chair of FSEP, the Food System Economic Partnership and she has a long-standing relationship with the Greening of Detroit. She also served, for several years, on the coordinating committee for the annual Live, Love, Local event at Eastern Market in Detroit.

Currently, Schmidt serves on the board of the Michigan Agritourism Association, where she promotes the Wolcott Metropark Farm Center and the many other agricultural related sites and businesses in Macomb County and Southeastern Michigan.

Capturing a moment in time is the magnificent gift of historical preservation. It allows the public, from whom that history came, to celebrate, experience and respect the work done by those who came before us. There are amazing things to see, right here in our own Macomb County backyard. Walking the steps of our forefathers allows us to experience what it means to be American in a way that helps us truly take in and appreciate our rich culture. It took hearty souls and strong hands to cut an existence in the wilderness. So many elements contribute to that mosaic image of survival, one of them right here at Wolcott Mill Metropark.